JPH04286544A - Sheet material feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate the make-up feeding of sheet material to a sheet material stacking intermediate plate and stabilize paper feeding action. CONSTITUTION:Pressure is applied to an intermediate plate 56 for stacking sheet material by a first pressure member for applying pressure to the intermediate plate 56 only at the paper feeding time and by a second pressure member for applying pressure to the intermediate plate 56 constantly. A rear end regulating plate 57 for regulating the rear end of the sheet material is horizontally displaced interlockingly with the vertical movement of the intermediate plate 56. At the make-up feeding time of sheet material, the intermediate plate 56 can be easily pressed down so as to enable the easy make-up feeding of the sheet material, and the tip of the sheet material is set into the specified position even with the quantity change of the stacked sheet material so as to enable stable paper feeding.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a sheet material feeding device that separates and feeds sheet materials one by one from a sheet material stack, and more specifically, the present invention relates to a sheet material feeding device that separates and feeds sheet materials one by one from a sheet material stack. Related to structure.

0002

[Prior Art] Generally, in sheet material feeding devices for office equipment such as copying machines, printing machines, and facsimile machines, sheet materials such as transfer paper and photosensitive paper are stored in large numbers on a sheet material receiving substrate of a cassette or deck. A stack of sheets is loaded, and one sheet is removed from this pile of sheets by a paper feed means such as a paper feed roller.
Each sheet is separated and fed to the next process.

[0003] At this time, in order to prevent so-called multi-feeding in which several sheet materials are fed together, a separation claw is known. A separation claw is provided near the tip of the sheet material stack in the sheet material feeding direction, and when the uppermost sheet material is fed, the tip moves over the separation claw while creating a slight bending loop at the tip. By doing so, the uppermost sheet material is separated from the next and lower sheet materials below it, so that only one sheet material is fed.

FIG. 24 shows a perspective view of essential parts of an example of a separating claw type feeding device. 100 is a sheet material loading table (middle plate) serving as a sheet material receiving substrate, 101 is a spring that lifts and biases this sheet material loading table 100, and P is a sheet material of a certain size loaded on the sheet loading table 100 ( 102 is a paper feed roller; 103 is a pair of left and right separation claws engaged with the upper surfaces of the left and right corners of the leading edges in the paper feed direction of the stacked sheet materials P;

[0005] The upper surface of the sheet material P near the tip side has a spring 1
The paper feed roller 102 is activated by the lifting force of the sheet material loading table 01.
It is in contact with the lower surface of with a predetermined pressing force. Alternatively, the paper feed roller 102 moves downward for each feed signal and contacts the upper surface of the sheet material P with a predetermined pressing force.

[0006] The separation claw 103 is freely swingable up and down about a shaft 103a, and is engaged with the upper surface of the corner of the leading edge of the sheet material P by riding on its own weight.

[0007] When the paper feed roller 102 is rotationally driven in the sheet material feeding direction, a feeding force in the paper feeding direction is applied to the topmost sheet material P1 by frictional force. The uppermost sheet material P1 that has been fed tries to move forward, but
The left and right corners of the leading edge are received by separation claws 103, preventing forward movement. Therefore, as the paper feed roller 102 rotates, this uppermost sheet material P
1, a bending loop E is formed in a portion between the separation claw 103 and the paper feed roller 102 near the separation claw 103 against the stiffness of the sheet material P.

When the size of this deflection loop E exceeds a certain level, the restoring force that tries to return the deflection loop E to its original state causes the right and left corners of the leading edge of the uppermost sheet material P1 held down by the separation claws 103 to The corner portion naturally comes off from the lower surface side of the separation claw 103 to the upper surface side and climbs over the separation claw 103. That is, only the uppermost sheet material P1 out of the stacked sheet materials P is separated by the separating claw 10 due to the formation of the above-mentioned deflection loop E.
After being released from the constraint of No. 3, only one sheet P is separated and fed from the next and subsequent sheets P.

[0009]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the case of a device such as the above example, the operation of storing the sheet material into the cassette serving as the sheet material storage section requires the use of a middle plate which is constantly biased to rotate upward by a separation claw or a spring. The leading edge region is stable in a state where it is pushed up to the uppermost position on the leading edge side of the sheet material on the intermediate plate. Therefore, the loading and replenishment of sheet materials into the main body case is carried out by pressing down against the biasing spring of the middle plate while avoiding the leading edge of the replenishing sheet material from the separation claw, which improves the replenishment of sheet materials into the cassette. There were complaints that it was bad.

[0010] Furthermore, with the diversification of information, the frequency of use of sheet materials has increased, and cassettes that can hold more sheets than conventional cassettes (for example, 500 sheets can be loaded compared to the conventional 250 sheets) have come to be incorporated into devices. This eliminates the hassle of replenishing recording paper. However, when using a sheet material other than frequently used sheet materials, it is troublesome to put a small amount into a cassette, and after use, the cassette must be returned to the state of the frequently used sheet material. In addition, if the remaining sheet material is not stored in an appropriate environment, the sheet material may become wavy or bent when used next time.
The surface of the sheet material changes due to curling, etc., resulting in many problems such as paper jams.

[0011] Furthermore, due to the increase in the number of loaded sheet materials, operability is affected when the sheet material cassette is attached to and removed from the main unit when replenishing recording paper, troubleshooting problems such as paper jams, or when replacing the recording paper size of the sheet material cassette. There was a drawback that caused

[0012] Furthermore, due to the increase in the loading amount, it is not possible to maintain constant conditions for separating and feeding the sheet materials one by one to the next process, and when using special sheet materials such as thick paper or thin paper, for example, Since phenomena such as poor feeding and double feeding are likely to occur, there are drawbacks such as the need to limit the types of sheet materials that can be fed and the environment in which the device is used.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a sheet material feeding device that facilitates the replenishment of sheet materials to a sheet material storage section and stabilizes the sheet feeding operation.

[0014]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and includes, for example, FIGS.
6. Referring to FIG. 17, a sheet material (P) is fed to an apparatus main body (1) that receives the sheet material (P) and performs image processing on the sheet material (P). Sheet material feeder section (30) equipped with sheet material feeding means (37) for feeding
and a sheet material feeding device comprising a sheet material storage section (50) that can be put in and taken out from the sheet material feeder section (30), wherein the sheet material storage section (50) is configured to load sheet materials (P) and move them up and down. A movable middle plate (56) and a transmission member (56) that transmits a pressing force to increase the middle plate (56) according to the sheet material loading amount.
a first pressurizing member (63) that transmits the pressure via the intermediate plate (59), and a second pressurizing member that directly transmits the pressurizing force that raises the intermediate plate (56).
a pressure member (65a), and a rear end regulating member (57) regulating the rear end of the sheet material, the intermediate plate (56)
It is characterized in that the rear end regulating member (57) is displaced in the horizontal direction in conjunction with the vertical movement of the rear end regulating member (57).

Further, the rear end regulating member (57) is characterized in that it has the same arc shape as the rotation angle of the vertical movement of the middle plate (56).

[0016] Furthermore, the sheet material storage section (50) is characterized in that the front wall (51f) against which the sheet material end abuts has the same shape as the rotational arc of the middle plate (56).

[0017]

[Operation] Based on the above configuration, the middle plate (56) is connected to the first pressure member (63) and the second pressure member (65a) in the feeding state.
), and when not in the feeding state, pressure transmission from the first pressure member (63) is released and pressure from the second pressure member (65a) is maintained. receive only. If this second pressure member (65a) is kept in balance with its own weight in the up-and-down swinging state with no sheets loaded on the middle plate (56), the sheet material against the sheet material storage section (50) can be maintained. During replenishment, the middle plate (56) falls by the weight of the loaded sheet material (P), and balance is maintained in this state. As a result, when loading and replenishing the sheet material (P), the middle plate (5
6) There is no push-up resistance or interference with the separating member, and the sheet material (P) can be replenished easily and quickly.

[0018] Furthermore, when the sheet material (P) is reduced due to paper feeding, the rear end regulating member (57) is displaced in the horizontal direction in conjunction with the vertical movement of the intermediate plate (56). As a result, the restraint of the separating claw (66) on the sheet material (P) is kept constant as described above, and stable paper feeding is performed.

Note that the above-mentioned symbols in parentheses are shown for reference to the drawings, and do not limit the structure of the present invention in any way.

[0020]

[Embodiment] First, an outline of the entire facsimile machine as an embodiment constructed according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. An optical reading system 3 is arranged at one end of the upper surface of the apparatus main body 1 (on the left side in FIG. 1) to read image information of a document conveyed from the document mounting table 2. A recording system 5 consisting of a laser beam printer is arranged below the optical reading system 3. Further, a telephone 26, an operation panel 27, etc. are arranged on the top surface of the device main body 1.

The optical reading system 3 includes a preliminary conveyance roller 6b in pressure contact with a preliminary conveyance pressing piece 6a, and a separation roller 6 in pressure contact with a separation pressing piece 6c, for document S stacked on the document placing table 2.
The sheets are separated one by one by d, and then the contact sensor (contact type sensor) 7 is moved by the main conveyance roller 6f, etc., which is in pressure contact with the paper feed roller 6e.
After reading the image information of the document S while pressing the document S into close contact with the contact type sensor 7 using the pressing means 9, the document S is ejected by the ejection roller 6h that is in pressure contact with the ejection roller 6g. It is configured such that the paper is ejected onto a paper tray 10.

The contact type sensor 7 uses an LED as a light source.
Light is irradiated from 7a onto the image information surface of the document S, and the reflected light reflected from the image information surface is imaged onto the photoelectric conversion element 7c by the short focus imaging lens 7b to read the image information. It is constructed so that information is transmitted to the recording section of another machine in the facsimile mode, and to its own recording system 5 in the copy mode.

[0023] The document table 2 is provided with a slider 2a that is slidable in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the document S (width direction of the document S). Both sides of the original document S can be aligned.

Further, the recording system 5 emits a modulated signal from the laser beam oscillator 11a based on the image signal of the contact type sensor 7, and transmits the modulated beam to the polygon mirror 11.
b irradiates the photoreceptor drum 12a of the image forming section 12 with scanning light to form image information on the surface of the photoreceptor drum 12a, and then onto the recording sheet P fed from the paper feed section A to the image forming section 12. After the image information is transferred and fixed, the paper is ejected.

The photosensitive drum 12a is a primary charger 12.
b, the developing roller 12c, and the cleaning roller 12d, and are integrated into the recording cartridge 12e.
It is configured to be detachable from the device main body 1. The surface of the photosensitive drum 12a is uniformly charged by the primary charger 12b, and when the surface is irradiated with scanning light from the polygon mirror 11b, a latent image is formed, and the latent image is supplied from the developing roller 12c. It is visualized using toner.

Photosensitive drum 12a of the image forming section 12
A transfer charger 12f is arranged in the peripheral area, and a fixing roller 12g and a paper discharge roller 12h are arranged in the recording sheet conveyance path downstream of the photosensitive drum 12a, and the transfer charger 12f is used to charge the paper. After transferring the toner image formed on the surface of the photoreceptor drum 12a onto the recording sheet P fed from section A, the fixing roller 12g fixes the toner image onto the recording sheet P, and the paper discharge roller 12h transfers the toner image to the recording sheet P. Main body 1
The paper is discharged onto a paper discharge tray 15 which is detachably provided on one side (the left side in FIG. 1 or 2).

Further, a stacking tray 16 for manually feeding recording sheets is provided on one end surface of the apparatus main body 1 so as to be openable and closable, and by tilting the stacking tray 16 to a nearly horizontal position, the manual feeding port 16a can be opened. Then, when recording sheets P are stacked on the stacking tray 16 and inserted into the manual feed port 16a, the recording sheets P are pressed against the larger diameter roller 13b of the transport roller pair 13a by the pressure contact member 16b. The sheets are separated one by one by the roller 13b, and then transported between the transfer charger 12f and the photosensitive drum 12a by a pair of transport rollers 13a.

An opening/closing lid 17 is provided on one end of the apparatus main body 1 so as to be openable and closable, and the loading tray 16 is provided on the opening/closing lid 17, and the paper ejection tray 15 is removably attached to the opening/closing lid 17. It is being Also, by opening the opening/closing lid 17, the recording cartridge 12e can be inserted into the apparatus main body 1.
It can be pulled out and replaced.

Further, the opening/closing lid 17 is designed to interlock with a drum exposure prevention shutter 12i provided on the recording cartridge 12e, so that when the opening/closing lid 17 is opened, the shutter 12i closes, and when the opening/closing lid 17 is closed. The shutter 12i is sometimes opened.

Although not shown, the operating button of the release lever for unlocking the opening/closing lid 17 is disposed in a recess provided in the front surface of the opening/closing lid 17, and the recess is connected to the paper ejection tray 15.
The opening/closing lid 17 cannot be unlocked using the operation button unless the paper ejection tray 15 is removed from the opening/closing lid 17. For this reason, the paper ejection tray 15 becomes an obstacle and the opening/closing lid 1
The recording cartridge 12 is opened when the cartridge 7 is not fully opened.
It is possible to prevent a situation where the recording cartridge 12e is damaged by replacing the recording cartridge 12e. Further, the opening/closing lid 17 is half-opened, and in conjunction with this, the drum exposure prevention shutter 12i is also half-opened, making it possible to prevent situations such as exposure of the photosensitive drum 12a and deterioration of image quality.

The paper feed section A separates the recording sheets P one by one from a paper feed cassette 50 that is attached to the bottom of the apparatus main body 1 so that it can be pulled out from one end side, and separates the recording sheets P one by one using a circular paper feed roller 37. The paper feeding timing is set so that the leading edge of the toner image formed on the photoreceptor drum 12a and the leading edge of the recording sheet P coincide with the leading edge of the toner image formed on the photoreceptor drum 12a by the cassette transport roller pair 37 serving as a pair of registration rollers. It is constructed such that paper is fed between the transfer charger 12f and the photosensitive drum 12a through the transfer charger 13a.

The number of sheets that can be loaded in the paper feed cassette 50 is approximately 250 sheets in a copying machine, etc., whereas in a facsimile machine, the power is always on, the operator is not always near the machine, and there is communication with a foreign country. Therefore, approximately 500 recording sheets P are required to allow reception even during nighttime reception or long vacations. Furthermore, the paper feeding performance required of the paper feeding device is higher than that of a copying machine.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the sheet material feeder 30 of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the feeder drive section, FIG. 5 is a front view, and FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view.

In the figure, 31 is the top plate of the feeder;
1L and 31R are hollow pedestals that are long in the front and back direction and are attached to the left and right sides of the top plate 31 in parallel with each other, and 32 are rubber feet provided on the lower surface of the pedestal. When the feeder 30 is placed on the installation stand C, a paper cassette storage space 33 (FIG. 5) is formed by the lower surface of the feeder top plate 31, the upper surface of the installation stand C, and the inner surfaces of the left and right pedestals 31L and 31R. .

Reference numeral 35 denotes a positioning boss provided on the feeder top plate 31, and when the facsimile B is positioned and placed on the feeder 30 by fitting into and engaging with the receiving hole on the bottom surface of the facsimile B, the sheet material feeding device A can be connected. Facsimile B
are in combination with each other.

Reference numeral 36 denotes a sheet material feeding roller shaft rotatably supported by bearings between the left and right pedestals 31L and 31R, and 37 indicates four sheet material feeding rollers integrally attached to the shaft at predetermined intervals. The roller is a means. The sheet material feeding roller 37 of this example is a cut-off roller (D-shaped cut roller) in the side or cross section. Normally, the omitted circular side 37a is held in a rotationally stopped state with a downward rotational angle attitude (FIGS. 1 and 6). 39 is the left and right pedestal 31
A sheet material conveying roller shaft is rotatably supported by a bearing between L and 31R, and 40 is a sheet material conveying roller integrally attached to the shaft.

The sheet material feeding roller axis 36 and the conveying roller axis 39 are substantially parallel to each other, and the conveying roller axis 39 is substantially parallel to each other.
9 is located at the tip side of the feeder top plate 31, and the feed roller shaft 36 is located upstream from it in the sheet material feeding direction, and the feed roller 37 attached to the feed roller shaft 36
The occluded circular side 37a and the opposite circular arc side 37b are partially exposed on the upper surface side of the upper surface plate 31 through a through hole 41 formed in the surface of the feeder upper surface plate 31.

G1 to G5 are gear trains, G1 is an input gear that is loosely fitted to the right side of the sheet material conveying roller shaft 39 and transmits the driving force from the main body side, G2 is an idle gear, and G3 is a sheet material conveying roller shaft 39. It is loosely fitted to the right end of the feed roller shaft 36 and is connected to the shaft 3 by a one-turn spring clutch 42.
A clutch gear, G4, which shares a shaft with G2, is loosely fitted to the shaft, and is controlled to be engaged and disengaged by the idle gear G2 by a spring clutch 42;
5 is a conveyance roller shaft gear located on the left side of the input gear G1 and integrally attached to the sheet material conveyance roller shaft 39 (Fig. 3).
.

When the cassette drive on the main body side is energized, the input gear G1 rotates clockwise, and in conjunction with this, the gears G2 and G3 rotate. Idle gear G2 and clutch gear G4 rotate counterclockwise, and clutch gear G3 and conveyance roller shaft gear G5 rotate clockwise. When the electromagnetic solenoid plunger 42a of the spring clutch 42 is energized, the clutch gear G3 is disengaged from the sheet material feeding roller shaft 36 due to the clutch being turned off, and rotates idly on the shaft 36. Therefore, in this state, no rotational force is transmitted to the sheet material feeding roller shaft 36, and the feeding roller 37 is kept in a rotationally stopped state. When the electromagnetic solenoid plunger 42a is temporarily energized, the spring clutch 42 is turned on, and the clutch gear G3 is integrated with the sheet material feeding roller shaft 36, and the shaft 36 is rotationally driven in the clockwise direction. The material feeding roller 37 is shown in FIG.
It is rotated clockwise in the top of FIG. When the sheet material feeding roller shaft 36, that is, the sheet material feeding roller 37 has rotated one rotation (360 degrees), the clutch is turned off, and the rotation of the sheet material feeding roller shaft 36, that is, the sheet material feeding roller 37 is stopped.

When the electromagnetic solenoid plunger 42c of the spring clutch 42 is de-energized, the clutch gear G4 is disconnected from the idle gear G2 due to the clutch being de-energized and is in a stopped state. Therefore, in this state, no rotational force is transmitted to the conveyance roller shaft gear G5, and the sheet material conveyance roller 40 is kept in a rotationally stopped state. When the electromagnetic solenoid plunger 42c is energized, the spring clutch 42 is turned on, the clutch gear G4 is interlocked with the idle gear G2, and the conveyance roller shaft gear G5 is rotated clockwise. Therefore, the sheet material conveying roller 40
is rotated clockwise.

42b is an electromagnetic solenoid plunger 42a
It is an electrical lead wire for energizing, and is an electrical coupling provided relatively to the sheet material feeding device A side and the facsimile B side when facsimile B is properly placed and set on sheet material feeding device A. The members (not shown) are connected and the electromagnetic solenoid plunger 42a is connected to a control circuit (not shown) on the facsimile B side via the lead wire 52b. Alternatively, after properly placing and setting the facsimile B on the sheet material feeding device A, insert the plug (not shown) provided at the terminal of the lead wire 42b into the socket (not shown) on the facsimile B side.
(not shown), the electromagnetic solenoid plunger 42a is connected to the control circuit on the facsimile B side.

43, 43 (FIGS. 5 and 6) are the left and right pedestals 3
Paper feed cassette loading/unloading guide grooves 45a, 45a, 45b, symmetrically provided along the length on each inner surface of 1L, 31R,
Similarly, cam grooves 45b are symmetrically provided on the tip sides of the inner surfaces of the left and right pedestals 31L and 31R.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the paper feed cassette 50, FIG. 8 is a front view, FIG. 9 is a rear view, FIG. 10 is a right side view, and FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view.

In the paper feed cassette 50, 51 is a planar rectangular main body case with an open top surface; 51a, 51b, 51;
In this order, c, 51d, 51e, and 51f are the front wall, left side wall, right side wall, rear wall, bottom plate, and abutment wall with a tip of the sheet material, respectively, of the case. 52 is the front wall 5 of the main body case
A handle portion 53 is provided on the outside of the front wall 51a, and a sheet guide plate 55 is provided on the inside of the front wall 51a in an upwardly inclined position
L and 55R are elongated flanges extending outward along the upper longitudinal sides of the left and right side walls 51b and 51c of the main body case, and include the main body case 51 (51a to 51f), the handle portion 52, and the guide plate 53. , left and right elongated flanges 55L, 5
5R is an all-in-one resin molded product. In particular, the right side wall 51c that contacts the sheet material and the wall 51f that abuts the tip of the sheet material are coated with a low-friction resin material such as tetrafluoride resin by baking or pasted with a sheet material in order to minimize the sliding resistance with the sheet material. Attach or main case 5
By molding 1 with tetrafluoride resin, the performance is extremely stable.

Reference numeral 56 denotes an intermediate plate housed within the main body case 51, and the front end side thereof is freely swingable up and down with the rear side portion 56a as a rotational fulcrum. Reference numeral 57 denotes a rear end regulating plate connected to the middle plate 56 within the main body case 51, and its position is displaced as the front end side of the middle plate 56 swings up and down. The sheet material P is stacked on this intermediate plate 56 and housed in the main body case 51.

Reference numeral 59 (FIGS. 7 and 11) is an L-shaped pressure lever that swings the middle plate 56 up and down. This pressure lever 59 is a support shaft 59a provided at the front of the tip side of the middle plate 56.
The horizontal arm 59b is rotatable around the middle plate 5.
It is located on the bottom side of the tip side of the pressure lever 5.
9 is rotated counterclockwise around the support shaft 59a, the horizontal arm 59b is rotated in the rising direction, and the middle plate 56 is lifted upward and rotated using the rear side portion 56a as a rotation fulcrum. . The tip of the pressure lever 59 is made of a low-friction resin material such as oil-impregnated plastic or tetrafluoride resin in order to minimize the sliding resistance with the middle plate 56. The information is transmitted to the middle plate 56 without waste.

Reference numeral 61 denotes a pressure shaft provided in front of the lever 59, and this pressure shaft 61 has both left and right ends 61L thereof.
, 61R are fitted into diagonal vertical grooves 62 provided symmetrically on the left and right side walls 51b, 51c of the main body case 51, and the left and right ends 61L, 61R thereof (FIGS. 9 and 10).
are exposed on the outside of both the left and right walls 51b and 51c. 6
3 and 65 are this pressure shaft 59 and the vertical arm 5 of the lever 59.
9c is a tension coil spring as the first pressurizing member. When the paper feed cassette 50 is removed from the sheet material feeder 30 (FIG. 11), the pressure lever 59 receives a clockwise rotational force about the support shaft 59a due to the weight of the horizontal arm 59b of the lever. horizontal arm 5
7b becomes an almost horizontal slumped posture. In this state, the pressure shaft 61 receives a tensile force from the vertical arm 59c of the pressure lever 59 via the coil spring 63, and its left and right ends 61L, 61R are fitted into the upper end of the oblique vertical slot 62. It is held in the raised position to the side starting point.

Reference numeral 65a denotes a second plate that directly presses the middle plate 56.
A compression coil spring is used as a pressure member. The pressure of the compression coil spring 65a is set so as to balance well with the weight of the intermediate plate 56 in the upward moving position without the sheet material P loaded on the intermediate plate 56.

Reference numerals 66 and 66 denote a pair of left and right separation claws for separating one sheet material, and levers 6 are provided at both left and right ends of the main body case 51 to freely swing up and down about support shafts 67 and 67, respectively.
9 and 69 are provided at the tip. The pair of left and right separation claws 66, 66 correspond to the left and right corners of the leading edge side of the uppermost sheet of the sheet material P stacked and stored on the middle plate 56 in the cassette main body case 51, respectively. Reference numerals 70 and 70 designate lever extensions in which the tips of the levers 69 and 69 are extended further forward than the positions of the separation claws 66 and 66. The lever extensions 70, 70 are located above the pressure shaft 61, and in the state shown in FIG. 11 when the paper feed cassette 50 is removed from the sheet material feeder 30,
As mentioned above, the levers 69 are held on the pressure shaft 61 which is pulled up and held at the starting point position on the upper end side of the diagonal vertical slot 62, and the levers 69, 69 are held in a substantially horizontal resting position. Downward rotation is prevented.

Reference numeral 71 denotes a roller serving as a sheet material conveying member disposed on the upper side of the sheet material guide plate 53 that rises forward, and is free to rotate about a shaft 76. This sheet material conveyance roller 71 is a driven roller that is paired with the sheet material conveyance roller 40 as a driving roller provided on the sheet material feeder 30 side, and as shown in FIG. When the sheet material is inserted into the feeder 30, it comes into contact with the sheet material conveying roller 40 on the feeder 30 side. The roller 71 receives a force in the direction of the roller 40 by a biasing member (not shown), and is pressed into contact with the roller 40 with a predetermined pressure.

Reference numeral 72 (FIG. 7) denotes a side regulating plate for the stacked sheet material provided inside the left side wall 51b of the cassette main body case 51; the lower surface is inserted into the cassette main body bottom 51e, and the upper surface is inserted into the left side wall 51b of the main body case 51. It is inserted into the insertion portion of the sheet material and positioned so as to maintain the dimensions of the sheet material loading space stably regardless of the number of sheets loaded. 7
Reference numeral 3 denotes a biasing spring that appropriately presses the side presser against the side surface of the loaded sheet material.

The pressing force of the biasing spring 73 on the sheet material P is (
110±30) g, and if the pressing force is weaker than this range,
Positioning of the side regulation is not possible, causing problems such as skewing of the sheet material P during feeding, and if the pressing force is strong, it becomes a load when the middle plate 56 swings, and proper paper feeding pressure is not produced, resulting in paper feeding failure. Furthermore, even if there is no paper feeding failure, the end surface of the sheet material may be bent due to the pressing force and scratches may occur.

The sheet materials P are loaded and stored in the paper feed cassette 50 by removing the cassette 50 from the feeder 30 and opening the upper surface of the main body case 51, as will be described later. When the cassette 50 is removed from the feeder 30 in the state shown in FIG. 11, it is in a state balanced with the pressing force of the compression coil spring 65a. Further, the separation claws 66, 66 have extensions 70, 70 of the levers 69, 69 provided with the separation claws 66, 66, so that the extensions 70, 70 of the levers 69, 69 provided with the separation claws 66, 66 can be
Pressure shaft 61 pulled up and held at the starting point position on the upper end side of 2
Since the levers 69, 69 are held in a substantially horizontal resting position and are prevented from rotating downwards, the levers 69, 69 are held in the upper position near the top opening in the main body case 51. Retained. Therefore, when storing the sheet material P in the cassette main body case 51, when the sheet material P is placed on the middle plate 56, the sheet material P pushes the middle plate 56 with its own weight against the pressing force of the compression coil spring 65a. There is no need to push down the intermediate plate 56 by hand to store the sheet material P, and the loading and storing operation of the sheet material P can be performed easily and quickly. In the case of the conventional cassette shown in FIG. 24, the separation claw 103 is located at the end of the middle plate 100, which is constantly biased to rotate upward by the spring 101, or on the front end side of the sheet material P on the middle plate. It is stable and has been pushed to the top. Therefore, the sheet material P is loaded and replenished into the main body case (not shown) while lifting the intermediate plate 100 and pushing it down against the biasing spring 101, while dodging the leading edge of the replenishing sheet material P from the separation claw 103. However, there was a drawback that the operability of replenishing the sheet material P into the cassette was poor. The cassette 50 of this example has been improved in this respect as described above.

In addition to the paper feed cassette 50 for the feeder 30 described in this example (maximum load capacity of 500 sheets), the paper feed cassette 50 with a maximum load capacity of, for example, 200 sheets or less,
Alternatively, a cassette containing 250 sheets or the like can be loaded without any modification to the feeder section. This means that when the maximum recording paper size of the paper cassette 50 for the normal device is B4, for example, B4, A4, B5 vertical, B5 horizontal,
There are 6 types such as A5 horizontal, and the loading capacity of the sheet material P is 25cm regardless of the frequency of use by the user.
There were 0 sheets and 200 sheets. Since multiple types of cassettes with different maximum loading capacities can be installed in the feeder section of the present invention, frequently used sheet materials P can be stored in the large capacity paper feed cassette 5.
0 is used, and the sheet material P that is used infrequently has been improved so that a small-capacity paper feed cassette 50 is sufficient.

The paper feed cassette 50 is attached to the feeder 30 in a paper feed cassette storage space 33 (see FIG. 5) for feeder 3
From the front of the cassette 50, the rear wall 51d side of the cassette 50 first, and the outwardly projecting elongated flanges 55L on the left and right sides of the cassette.
, 55R on the feeder left and right pedestals 31L and 31R, respectively.
A longitudinal guide groove 43 provided along the longitudinal direction on the inner surface of the
43 and push it in (in the direction of arrow X in FIG. 1).

When the cassette 50 is pushed in sufficiently, the left and right projecting protrusions 52a and 52 of the handle portion 52 on the front side of the cassette
The back side of the cassette 50 hits the tips 43a and 43a (FIGS. 3 and 6) of the guide grooves 43 and 43 on the feeder 30 side, and further pushing movement of the cassette 50 is blocked, and the cassette 50 is pushed into the feeder 30. On the other hand, it will be installed in the normal push-in position. Also, when loading a cassette with a maximum loading capacity different from the paper cassette 50, it is necessary to load the paper cassette storage space 33 (FIG. 5) from the front of the feeder 30, with the rear wall side of the cassette first, and with the cassette left and right. The outwardly projecting elongated flanges 55L and 55R on the left and right sides of the feeder are fitted into the longitudinal guide grooves 43 and 43 provided longitudinally on the inner surfaces of the feeder left and right pedestals 31L and 31R, respectively. ) It can be installed in the normal push-in position using the same operation method as the paper feed cassette 50. In this installed state, the front surface of the cassette 50 is almost the same as the left side surface of the facsimile B as shown in FIG. 1, and there is no protrusion from the left side surface of the facsimile B, and there is no unsightly design. Furthermore, even if a cassette with a different maximum load capacity from the paper feed cassette 50 is installed, a gap is created in the cassette storage space 33, but there is no unsightly design.

The insertable distance L1 (FIG. 1) of the cassette 50 into the feeder 30 is made larger than the cassette mounting direction dimension L2 of the feeder 30, and the cassette 50' whose length in the front and back direction is larger than L2 can also be inserted and mounted. In this case, the cassette 50'
When the cassette 50' is properly attached to the feeder 30, the insertion end side of the cassette 50' protrudes from the rear side of the feeder 30 as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. Although there is a protrusion L4 on the right side of the screen, the appearance is good.

The sheet material feeding roller 37 disposed on the top plate 31 side of the feeder 30 is a hollow circular roller (
It is a D-shaped cut roller), and is normally in a rotationally stopped state with the omitted circular side 37a in a downward rotation angle position, and when the cassette 50 is pushed into the feeder 30 as described above and is moved, the rear wall 51d of the cassette main case 51 The upper side passes under the downward oval side 37a of the sheet material feeding roller 37 and does not interfere with the roller 37.

Furthermore, until just before the cassette 50 is sufficiently pushed into the feeder 30 and is properly mounted, the middle plate 56 is not subjected to the lifting rotational force by the pressure lever 59 and the cassette body case 51 is The stacked sheet material P on the middle plate 56 is held in a collapsed position on the bottom plate 51e as shown in FIG. Therefore, in the process of pushing and moving the cassette 50 into the feeder 30, the top surface of the uppermost sheet material of the stored and stacked sheet materials P in the cassette main body case 51 is sufficiently spaced downward from the downward occluded circle side 37a of the sheet material feeding roller 37. Therefore, there is no interference between the top surface of the uppermost sheet of the stacked sheet materials P on the cassette 50 side and the feeding roller 37 on the feeder 30 side.

In other words, the feeding roller 37 on the feeder 30 side
By making the roller into a notched circular roller and keeping it in a rotational state with the notched circular side 37a facing downward at all times, the lower surface of the feeder top plate 31, the upper surface of the installation stand C, and the left and right pedestals 31L and 31R are The height of the paper feed cassette storage space 33 formed on the inner surface can be increased, and the sheet material loading and storage capacity of the cassette 50 can be increased accordingly.

Immediately before the cassette 50 is pushed sufficiently into the feeder 30 and is properly mounted, both left and right ends 61L of the pressure shaft 61 protrude outward from the left and right side walls 51b and 51c on the cassette 50. 61R engages with cam grooves 45a, 45a, 45b, and 45b provided on the inner surfaces of the left and right pedestals 31L and 31R of the feeder 30, respectively, and the subsequent push-moving force of the cassette 50 causes both left and right ends 61L and 61R of the pressurizing shaft 61. are the cam grooves 45a, 45a, 45
b, 45b, the pressurizing shaft 61 moves downward from the starting point on the upper end side to the ending point on the lower end side along the oblique vertical groove 62 with which it is engaged. This pressure shaft 6
1, the pressure lever 59 is rotated counterclockwise around the support shaft 59a via the tension coil spring 63, and the horizontal arm 59b of the lever 59 is rotated in the rising direction. Intermediate plate 5 on which sheet material P is loaded
6 is rotated to a front-up tilted position with its tip end side being lifted up using the rear side portion 56a as a fulcrum.

Then, when the cassette 50 is fully pushed and moved and the cassette installation is completed, the pressurizing shaft 61 reaches the lower end point of the diagonally vertical slot 62 with which it is engaged, and the left and right ends 61L, 61R thereof. is the cam groove 45a, 4
Lower ends 45c, 45c, 45 of 5a, 45b, 45b
It is held and detented at d and 45d (FIG. 6). At that time, the compression coil spring 65a as the second pressure member
acts in the direction in which the compression coil spring 65a is restored (in the direction in which the pressing force is attenuated) in conjunction with the lifting of the front end side of the middle plate 56 using the rear side portion 56a as a fulcrum.

On the other hand, the levers 69, 69 have their extensions 70
, 70 moves downward along the slot 62 as described above, and at the initial stage of its descent, it rotates downward in the counterclockwise direction around the support shafts 67, 67. The separating claws 66, 66 are received at the corners of the front side of the stacked sheet material P, which is raised by the lift and rotation of the front side of the intermediate plate 56 as the pressure shaft 61 descends, Subsequent downward rotation is prevented, and the pressurizing shaft 61 is separated from the lever extensions 70, 70 by the continued downward movement. The separation claws 66, 66 have lever extensions 70, 70 connected to the pressure shaft 6.
1 and the edges are cut, the tip rests on the corner of the leading edge of the stacked sheet material P under its own weight, and functions as a separation claw for one sheet material (FIG. 12).

Sheet material conveyance roller 71 on the cassette 50 side
When the cassette 50 is completely attached to the feeder 30, it is in contact with the front surface of the sheet material conveying roller 40 on the feeder 30 side (FIGS. 1 and 13).

The sheet material feeding device A in FIG.
The figure shows the postures and positions of each of the above-mentioned members at the time when the cassette 50 is completely installed.

In this state, when the mode for using the sheet material feeding device A is selected in the console section of the facsimile B as the main device and the image formation start signal is input to the control circuit of the facsimile B, the Gear trains G1 to G3 are in a rotating state. The sheet material feeding roller 37 and the sheet material conveying roller 40 are connected to the spring clutch 4
2 and gear G2 is kept in a non-rotating state by keeping the spring clutch in a clutch-off state. Thereafter, the electromagnetic solenoid plunger 42a on the feeder 30 side is temporarily energized from the control circuit on the facsimile B side based on the sheet material feeding start signal, so that the one-turn spring clutch 42 is activated.
It is turned on, and the sheet material feeding roller 37 is driven one rotation clockwise in FIG. 1. The arc side 37 of this feeding roller 37
b acts on the upper surface of the uppermost sheet material of the stacked storage sheet materials P on the intermediate plate 56, and a feeding force is applied to the uppermost sheet material in the direction opposite to the mounting direction X of the cassette 50 with respect to the feeder 30. The uppermost sheet material is separated by separation claws 66, 66.
The sheets are separated and fed out toward the front wall 51a of the cassette 50.

The leading edge of the sheet material P that has been fed out is guided by the forward upward guide plate 53 and moved to the pair of sheet material feeding rollers 4.
The facsimile B is introduced from below into the nip portion of No. 0 and 71 and is temporarily stopped.
The sheet material is fed into the facsimile machine B from the feeding sheet material receiving opening 75 on the bottom plate. The sheet material P fed into the facsimile B passes through the guide plate 75a, is held in the nip between the feed roller 13a and the conveyance roller 13c on the facsimile B side, and is fed to the transfer section 12f. The image forming operation on the facsimile B side is the same as that in the sheet material feeding mode from the multi-feed tray 16 described above.

In this way, each time the sheet material feeding roller 37 on the feeder 30 side is driven once, the stored sheet material P in the cassette 50 mounted on the feeder 30 is fed to the facsimile machine B for one sheet. Then, image formation on the fed sheet material P is performed sequentially.

As the consumption of the stacked storage sheet material P in the cassette 50 decreases, the middle plate 56 is rotated one after another by the pressure lever 59 being sequentially rotated counterclockwise by the charging force of the tension coil spring 63. It is lifted and rotated. but,
Pressure levers 5 at two locations on both ends of paper cassette main body case 51
9 is rotated counterclockwise around the support shaft 59a, the middle plate 56 lifts upward using the rear end portion 56a as a rotation fulcrum and is rotated. The paper pressure was 300g to 400g for the 1st to 250th sheets, but when measuring the paper feeding pressure with a 500-sheet capacity paper cassette, the paper pressure was as shown in Figure 14.
The paper feeding pressure distribution becomes 730g for the 50th sheet and 300g for the 500th sheet, making it impossible to obtain stable paper feeding pressure. If sheet materials such as thick paper or thin paper are used, paper feeding failure, skewed feeding, and heavy paper feeding may occur. Phenomena such as overflow may occur.

Therefore, in order to obtain stable paper feeding pressure, the present invention uses a tension coil spring 63 as the first pressure member.
at two locations on both ends of the main body case 51, and further on the main body case 5.
1, a compression coil spring 65a is installed as a second pressure member.
The location has been set. The tension coil springs 63 at both ends of the main body case 51 are set in the same way as the conventional 250-sheet storage cassette, and second pressure members 65a at both ends inside the main body case 51 are added, that is, the pressure members are set to 2. Figure 1 shows a structure in which the spring pressure as a pressure member is dispersed by dividing it into two parts (2 tension springs → 2 tension springs, 2 compression springs).
As shown in Figure 5, the distribution of paper feed pressure is similar to that of the conventional 250-sheet storage cassette, and the paper feed pressure is 300 to 500.
It was possible to maintain the paper feeding pressure at a constant level of g.

Furthermore, as the consumption of the stacked storage sheet material P in the paper feed cassette 50 decreases, the pressure lever 59 pulls the pressure lever 59 and sequentially rotates counterclockwise by the charging force of the coil springs 63 and 65. When the sheet material is lifted up and rotated sequentially, the dimension L3 in Fig. 22(a) changes (as the sheet material decreases, the dimension L3 becomes longer (Fig. 22(b)).
) ). If the sheet loading platform is one that moves horizontally, such as a large-capacity paper deck, the dimension of L3 will not change regardless of how much sheet material is loaded, but if it is a cassette type, it should be made as thin as possible to allow for attachment and detachment of the cassette. Since it is impossible to store a mechanism for horizontally moving the sheet loading platform in that space, the sheet loading platform is usually called a middle plate.
A device that can be rotated in the vertical direction using the rear side as a rotational fulcrum is used. For conventional cassettes with a loading capacity of 250 sheets or less, the amount of change in L3 is not affected by paper feeding performance, but when loading 500 sheets, the rotation angle is twice that of a 250-sheet cassette, so the dimension of L3 changes. affects the paper feeding performance. In other words, when the number of stacked sheets decreases, the sheet material slides down and the amount of engagement of the pair of left and right separation claws 66 that are engaged with the upper surfaces of the left and right corners of the leading edge in the paper feed direction decreases, causing the paper feed roller 37, a bending loop is formed in the portion of the uppermost sheet material between the separation claw 66 and the paper feed roller 37 near the separation claw 66 against the stiffness of the sheet material. Since the separation claw 66 is insufficiently restrained, the deflection loop cannot be formed properly, resulting in poor separation.

Therefore, as the middle plate 56 rotates, the position of the rear end regulating plate 57 connected to the middle plate 56 is horizontally swung as shown in FIG. By making the shape the same as the locus of the rotation arc, the dimension of L3 is made constant regardless of the amount of loaded sheet material, so that the restraint of the separating claw 66 on the sheet material can be kept constant at all times. It has become. In addition, as another method of keeping the dimension of L3 constant, as shown in FIG.
A rotation fulcrum for the rear end regulating plate 57 is provided at the rear end of the rear end regulating plate 57 so that the rear end regulating plate 57 can swing, and the other end of the rear end regulating plate 57 is connected to the rear end of the middle plate 56. When the middle plate 56 swings up and down about the rear end portion 56a, the rear end regulating plate 57 connected to the middle plate 56 also swings about the pivot point at the rear end of the paper cassette main body case 51. The relationship between the middle plate 56 and the rear end regulating plate 57 is always 9 regardless of the amount of sheet material loaded.
The angle can be kept constant at 0°±10°, and the restraint of the separating claws 66 to the sheet material can be kept constant.

Furthermore, as a method for keeping the dimension L3 constant, although not shown, the rotation angle that swings up and down on the rotational fulcrum of the rear end portion 56a of the middle plate 56, and the separation claw 66 at the tip in the stacked sheet feeding direction are provided. In the case of a conventional 250-sheet cassette, the rotation angle of the separation claw 66 and the rotation angle of the middle plate 5 is small because the rotation angle of the middle plate 56 is small.
The rotation angle of 6 was 1:1, but since the rotation angle of the middle plate 56 is large when making a 500-sheet cassette, the rotation angle of the separation claw 66 is increased to keep the dimension of L3 constant. By setting the separation claw 66 to the sheet material
can keep the constraint constant.

The tip of the middle plate 56 is bent downward by 5° to 7° as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. This is to ensure that the sheet material is always fed at a constant position relative to the guide plate 53 of the main body case 51 when feeding the first to 500th sheet materials. Feeding position is 1st to 5th sheet
If the sheet material varies between sheets 00 and 00, the sheet material will move between the roller 71, which is a sheet material conveying member, which is disposed on the upper side of the guide plate 53, and the sheet material conveying roller 40, which is a driving roller, which is provided on the paired feeder 30 side. This is because the sheet material cannot be guided to the nip, resulting in paper feeding failure.

Furthermore, when feeding sheet materials by displacing the tip angle of the middle plate 56 according to the sheet material loading amount of the paper feed cassette main body case 51 as shown in FIGS. 18(a) and 18(b), The sheet material can be fed at a constant position relative to the sheet material guide plate 53 at all times. The method is shown in Figure 1.
9(a), the middle plate 56 is divided into two parts, and the main body side of the middle plate 56 is made of a cold rolled steel plate (S) with a thickness of 0.8 to 1.2 mm as before.
(PCC-SD), the middle plate tip 56b is made of a spring stainless steel band (SUS27CS1, SUS27CS3, etc.). Or as shown in Fig. 19(b), the middle plate tip 56
b is made of the same 0.8 to 1.2 mm cold rolled steel plate (SPCC-SD) as the middle plate 56 main body, and the middle plate 56 main body and the middle plate tip 56b are connected by a shaft, and the middle plate tip 56b is in a rotatable state and pressurized with a spring member so that it can return to its original position (when there is no sheet material). Or, although not shown, the middle plate 5
6 is entirely molded, and a middle plate 56 and a middle plate tip 56 are formed.
This method utilizes the elastic force of the resin by making the joint part b extremely thin and using it as a hinge. According to experiments, when sheet materials are loaded in the paper feed cassette body case 51, the load applied to the middle plate tip 56b is 100 g for 100 sheets, 200 g for 200 sheets,
The weight was around 300g for 300 sheets, 400g for 400 sheets, and 500g for 500 sheets. For this value, the thickness of the spring material,
By setting the pressing force of the spring member and the thickness of the hinge part, sheets can be fed to the sheet material guide plate 53 of the paper feeding cassette 50 at a constant position regardless of the amount loaded.

Furthermore, the shape of the cassette material end abutment wall 51f is not structured like a conventional 250-sheet cassette, but has the same shape as the locus of the rotational arc of the middle plate 56 (FIG. 16, Figure 17). In the conventional 250-sheet cassette, the stacking height of sheet material is standard paper (grammage 64g/m2 paper)
The rotation fulcrum 56a at the rear end of the intermediate plate is normally half the maximum loading capacity, that is, 25/2 mm. This is to minimize the dimensional change of L3, which was explained in connection with the rear end regulating plate 57, regardless of the loading amount. The material end abutting wall 51f does not affect feeding. However, if the above contents are applied to a 500-sheet cassette and designed, the loading height of sheet material will be standard paper (basis weight 64g).
/ square meter of paper) is 50 mm, and the rotation angle of the middle plate 56 is twice that of 250 sheets.When designing the sheet material storage space in the paper feed cassette main body case 51, the JIS standard for sheet material is length ± Since it is 1 mm, for example, A
In the case of 4 cassettes, when trying to minimize the change in dimension of L3 because the nominal dimension is 297 mm + 1 mm = 298 mm, the vicinity of 250 sheets of sheet material interferes with the wall 51 f of the sheet material leading end abutting wall 51 of the paper feed cassette main body case 51. This causes the pressure lever 59 to rotate counterclockwise around the support shaft 59a, which prevents the middle plate 56 from being lifted upward using the rear side 56a as a rotational fulcrum, and prevents the proper paper feeding pressure from being maintained. The paper did not come out (the middle plate 56 did not rise to the proper position), resulting in a paper feeding failure. Therefore, in the present invention, by making the locus of the rotational arc of the middle plate 56 and the wall 51f abutting the tip of the sheet material inside the paper feed cassette main body case 51 the same, the middle plate 56
Interference between the sheet material and the sheet material end abutting wall 51f of the cassette main body case 51 during rotation is eliminated, and dimensional change in L3 is also minimized, making it possible to ensure appropriate paper feeding pressure.

As a result, the height level of the leading edge side of the uppermost sheet material of the stacked sheets on the intermediate plate 56 is always maintained at a constant level.

Furthermore, in order to minimize the influence on the paper feed pressure, the paper feed roller 37 in the current machine is a cut-out roller (D-shaped cut roller), and the cut-out side 37a is always in a downward rotating angle position. It is held in a rotationally stopped state (Figs. 1 and 6). In this state, the intermediate plate 56 is located above the feeding position, and is lowered to the normal position when the feeding roller 37 rotates and the uppermost sheet of the stacked sheet materials is separated and fed. When the sheet material is fed, the intermediate plate 56 repeatedly moves up and down, so that the sheet material and the sheet material leading end abutting wall 51f in the cassette 50 slightly come into contact with each other. In addition, it is difficult for the operator to set 500 sheets at once into the paper feed cassette body case 51, and because the sheets are loaded in parts of 200 or 250 sheets, the leading edge of the sheet material is delicate when loaded. There is variation in Further, the variation when cutting the sheet material into a standard shape is ±1 mm according to the JIS standard, and the leading edge of the sheet material varies slightly. In a 500-sheet cassette, the sheet material pressing mechanism is arranged in a minimum space, and the pressing force needs to be more accurate than in a 250-sheet cassette, so it is better to have as little sliding resistance to the pressing force as possible.

In the present invention, the leading edge of the sheet material varies slightly, and the leading edge of the sheet material and the cassette body case 51
In order to avoid the effect on the paper feeding pressure even if the sheet material leading end abutting wall 51f interferes, the sheet material leading end abutting wall 51f is finished with a mirror finish (finished with #2000 sandpaper) when the paper feed cassette main body case 51 is molded with resin. to do). Alternatively, a low-friction resin material such as a polytetrafluorocarbon resin is baked and coated on the sheet material end abutting wall 51f, or the sheet material is pasted. Alternatively, by molding the cassette main body case 51 from a polytetrafluoride resin material, the sliding resistance between the sheet material and the sheet material end abutting wall 51f is minimized. Furthermore, since the right side wall 51c of the cassette main body case 51 is also the same as the sheet material tip abutment wall 51f (the right side wall 51c is the reference surface when feeding the sheet material, the sheet material is directly touched), the paper feed cassette The main body case 51 is mirror-finished (finished with #2000 sandpaper) during resin molding. Alternatively, apply a baking coating with a low-friction resin material such as tetrafluoride resin, or paste a sheet material. Alternatively, the sheet material and the cassette body case 5 can be formed by molding the cassette body case 51 with a tetrafluoride resin material.
By minimizing the sliding resistance of the right side wall 51c of No. 1, the effect on paper feeding pressure is eliminated.

20 and 21 show a stacked sheet material side regulating plate 72 provided inside the left side wall 51b of the paper feed cassette main body case 51 described above. Conventionally, the height of the stacked sheet material side regulating plate 72 of a 250-sheet cassette is about 30 mm to 35 mm, and even if it is fixed to the bottom part 51e of the cassette body with component precision, there is no effect on paper feeding performance. There were hardly any. but,
When the loaded amount of sheet materials reaches 500 sheets, the height of the stacked sheet material side regulation plate 72 that regulates the sheet materials is 65 mm to 7.
0 mm, and it is not possible to make the upper and lower surfaces of the stacked sheet material side regulating plate 72 the same size using the same method as before (the upper surface side will either be open or closed relative to the lower surface). ).

[0081] Furthermore, since the sheet material is fed from the top of the stack regardless of the amount of the stacked sheet material, the conventional mounting method has the worst dimensional accuracy (the top surface of the stacked sheet material side regulating plate 72). ), which affected paper feeding performance (skew feeding, etc.).

Therefore, in the present invention, the mounting of the stacked sheet material side regulating plate 72 does not depend on the precision of the parts, but as shown in FIGS. 20 and 21, the lower surface is inserted into the bottom part 51e of the cassette main body and fixed with a tightening screw, and the upper surface is attached to the supply side. By providing an insertion portion on the left side wall 51b of the paper cassette main body, and inserting and fixing a hook, the stacked sheet material side regulating plate 72 is positioned so as to keep the dimensions of the upper surface and lower surface stable.

Further, the biasing spring 73 attached to the stacked sheet material side regulating plate 72 and pressing appropriately against the side surface of the stacked sheet material is not affected by the mounting accuracy of the stacked sheet material side regulating plate 72, and is not affected by the mounting accuracy of the stacked sheet material side regulating plate 72. Pressing pressure (110±30)g
The paper feeding performance is significantly improved since there is no bending, scratches, etc. caused by skewing of the sheet material during feeding or excessive pushing of the end surface of the sheet material as described above.

[0084] Also, the sheet material contact surface of the biasing spring 73 may be coated with a low-friction resin material such as polytetrafluoride resin, or a sheet material may be pasted, or the biasing spring 73
By molding itself from a tetrafluoride resin material, sliding resistance with the sheet material can be eliminated.

Further, a pair of left and right sheet material separation claws 66 that engage with the tips of the stacked sheet feeding direction of the paper feed cassette main body case 51 are provided at both left and right ends of the main body case 51, respectively, with the support shaft 67 as the center. It is provided at the tip of a lever 69 that is swingable up and down. The pair of left and right separation claws 66 are engaged by their own weight on the upper surface of the left and right corners on the leading edge side of the uppermost sheet of sheet material stacked and stored on the middle plate 56 in the cassette main body case 51. The purpose of this is that when the paper feed roller 37 is rotationally driven in the sheet material feeding direction, the topmost sheet material P1 of the stacked sheet materials P tries to move forward, but the left and right corners of its tip are separated by the separation claws 66. It is caught and prevented from moving forward. Therefore, as the paper feed roller 37 rotates, a bending loop is formed in the portion of the uppermost sheet material P1 between the separation claw 66 and the paper feed roller 37 near the separation claw 66 against the stiffness of the sheet material (
(See Figure 23).

When the size of this deflection loop exceeds a certain level, due to the restoring force that tries to return the deflection to its original state, the right and left corner portions of the leading edge of the uppermost sheet material P1 held down by the separation claws 66 become separated by the separation claws. It naturally comes off from the lower surface side of 66 to the upper surface side, climbs over the separating claw 66, and separates and feeds only one sheet. However, recently, environmental destruction has become a focus of attention, and the sheet materials used in offices are changing from conventional high-quality paper (basis weight 60 to 9
0g/m2), 100% waste paper (newspaper, copy paper, etc.) or recycled paper made by mixing 50 to 70% waste paper with high-quality paper are being used. Compared to conventional high-quality paper, recycled paper is thick but has no stiffness, thin paper but has stiffness, or has a rough surface, and has a higher coefficient of friction between sheets than conventional paper, making it unreliable and causing problems such as poor paper feeding and double feeding. To avoid this, in the present invention, the separating claw 66 is placed on the upper surface of the sheet material loaded and stored on the middle plate 56 in the cassette main body case 51 with its own weight.
The load is set at 20 g ± 6 g (if the load is heavier than this, it will be difficult to remove thin paper or stiff sheet material from the separation claw 66, resulting in paper feeding failure. When feeding cardboard or stiff sheet material,
(The separation claw 66 may come off too quickly, resulting in poor timing, double feeding, etc.) Recycled paper can also be fed without problems in this load range. Furthermore, in order to further stabilize the paper feeding performance, it is also effective to bake and coat the sheet material contact surface of the separating claw 66 with a low-friction resin material such as tetrafluoride resin, which improves the sheet material's removal.

[0087] By carrying out the above-mentioned contents, even if sheet materials such as thick paper and thin recycled paper are used, phenomena such as poor paper feeding and double feeding will not occur, and the types of sheet materials that can be fed will be limited. There is no need to limit the environment in which the device is used, and stable feeding performance can always be maintained.

To take out the cassette 50 from the feeder 30, hook your finger on the handle 52 on the front side of the cassette and pull it in the direction opposite to the cassette mounting direction X as shown by arrow Y in FIG. Remove it from inside.

At the beginning of the extraction movement process of the cassette 50, both the left and right ends 61L of the pressurizing shaft 61 on the cassette 50 side, 6
1R is disengaged, the pressure shaft 61 becomes free, and therefore the pressure lever 59 is no longer rotated in the counterclockwise direction. The middle plate 56 is rotated clockwise by the weight of , and the middle plate 56 returns to the state where it falls down onto the bottom plate surface of the cassette main case 51 as shown in FIG. Further, the pressurizing shaft 61 also returns to the state where it is pulled up to the starting position on the upper end side of the oblique vertical slot 62 with which it is engaged. The separation claw levers 69, 69 are held at a rest position in a horizontal posture with their extension parts 70, 70 resting on the pressure shaft 61 which has returned to the starting position on the upper end side of the slot 62 and being received. With the diversification of information, the frequency of use of sheet materials has increased, and the market has desired cassettes that can hold more sheets than conventional paper feed cassettes.This has eliminated the hassle of replenishing recording paper, but the loading of sheet materials has increased. Due to the increase in the number of paper sheets, when the cassette is attached to and removed from the main unit, the operability is inferior to that of conventional paper feeding cassettes. Comparing the conventional paper feed cassette (250 sheets) and the paper feed cassette of the present invention (500 sheets), the sheet material standard paper (basis weight 6
4g/square meter) 4.5g per sheet 250 sheets:
4.5g/sheet x 250 sheets = 1.13kg 500 sheets: 4
．． 5 g/sheet x 500 sheets = 2.25 kg, and the weight of the paper feed cassette (sheet material + weight of cassette) is: 2.2 kg for 250 sheets and 3.8 kg for 500 sheets. In addition, the pressing force to maintain paper feeding performance is 2
50-sheet cassette: 1.5 kgf - 2.0 kgf 500-sheet cassette: 5.0 kgf - 6.0 kgf, and when measuring the loading and unloading force with 250-sheet cassette and 500-sheet cassette installed in the same feeder section, 250-sheet cassette :3
．． 0kgf~3.5kgf 500 sheets cassette: 6.5k
gf ~ 7.0 kgf, which is twice as much force for attaching and detaching as conventional paper feed cassettes. Therefore, in the present invention, the reasons for increasing the attachment/detachment force are as follows:
1. Load of paper cassette 50 when 500 sheets are loaded 2. 3. Sliding force between the elongated flanges 55L and 55R on the left and right sides of the cassette body and the paper cassette guide grooves 43 and 43 in the feeder section when the paper cassette 50 is attached to the sheet material feeder 30. The pressure shaft 61 protruding outward from the left and right side walls 51b and 51c of the paper feed cassette 50 connects to the left and right pedestals 31 of the sheet material feeder 30.
Cam grooves 45a, 45a, 45 provided inside L, 31R
b, 45b descend from the upper end start point to the lower end end point (the pressure shaft 61 slides through the diagonal vertical grooves 62 symmetrically provided on the left and right side walls 51b, 51c of the main body case 51). We focused on the three items above.

[0090] The weight of the sheet material P, which is 2.2 kg in the load when 500 sheets are loaded in item 1, is a physical weight and cannot be changed. Paper feeding pressure when loading 500 sheets of sheet material P: 300 to 5
In order to maintain 00g, the pressure of the pressure member is currently set to 6.7
kgf is required. Therefore, in the present invention, the sheet material 50
In order to maintain the paper feeding pressure of 300 to 500 g when 0 sheets are loaded, and to make the attachment/detachment force comparable to that when 250 sheets are loaded in the past, we decided to divide the pressure member.

In other words, the tension coil springs 63 as the first pressure members are set at two locations on both ends of the main body case 51, and the pressure is set to be about the same as the pressure when 250 sheets are conventionally loaded. It was set to .0 kg. Furthermore, a compression coil spring 6 as a second pressure member is installed inside the main body case 51.
5a was set at two locations. This compression coil spring 65a is different from the tension coil spring 63 as the first pressure member that pushes up the middle plate 56 via the pressure lever 59, and the force for pushing up the middle plate 56 can only be about 1.0 kg. This was revealed as a result of an experiment. In addition, as a result of an experiment to see if the sliding force when attaching and detaching the second and third paper cassettes 50 could be reduced to By reducing the sliding force of the elongated flanges 55L and 55R, and the diagonal vertical slots 62 symmetrically provided in the left and right side walls 51b and 51c of the paper feed cassette 50, the conventional 250-sheet paper feed is improved. Theoretically, it has been found that the force required to attach and detach the cassette is comparable to that of the cassette. Therefore, by actually mirror-finishing the above-mentioned parts (finished with #2000 sandpaper) during resin molding, the attachment/detachment force is reduced to 4.5 kgf to 5.0 kgf.

Furthermore, it is possible to bake a low-friction resin material such as a polyfluoride resin or apply a sheet material, or to mold the bases 31L and 31R of the paper feed cassette 50 and the sheet material feeder 30 from a polyfluoride resin material. As a result, the attachment/detachment force was 3.5 kgf to 4.0 kgf, which was the same as the conventional 250-sheet paper feed cassette. In addition to the above-mentioned low friction member, another method for reducing the sliding force is to arrange rollers in the paper feed cassette guide grooves 43, 43 of the sheet material feeder 30 and slide the paper feed cassette 50 on the rollers. A rolling bearing is inserted into the pressure shaft 61 that slides in the diagonal vertical slots 62 provided symmetrically in the left and right side walls 51b and 51c of the paper cassette 50, and the diagonal vertical slots 62 of the paper feed cassette 50 are connected to each other. There is also a method of reducing the sliding force. As described above, the sheet material feeding device A of this embodiment can be easily installed and used in combination with the main device B such as a facsimile machine or a copying machine even if the user purchases it as an option as necessary. It is configured to be detachable. Further, the sheet material feeding roller 37 of the feeder 30 is made into a hollow circular roller to realize a long slide of the paper feeding cassette 50 with respect to the feeder 30, and the entire sheet material feeding device A is housed in the lower part of the main body device B. Since the feeding direction of the loaded sheet material in the cassette 50 installed in the feeder 30 to the main body device B is the opposite direction to the mounting direction of the cassette 50 to the feeder 30, the cassette 50 is also fed to the main device B for jamming of sheet materials. This can be easily done by attaching and detaching from the left side of the main unit B, and there is no inconvenience for the operator to go behind the main unit B to work.

Even though the sheet material feeding device A consisting of the feeder 30 and the cassette 50 is located at the bottom of the main device B using a long stroke, sheet material jam removal and all operability are performed on the left side of the device. The reason why it was possible to do this on the surface side is because the sheet material in the cassette is fed in the opposite direction to the mounting direction of the cassette 50 to the feeder 30, despite the long device stroke of the cassette 50.

Furthermore, since the sheet material feeding device A consisting of the feeder 30 and the cassette 50 is all located at the bottom of the main device B, the height dimension of the sheet material P loaded and stored in the cassette 50 is slightly changed. only, and the main device B is not affected at all. In other words, it is easy to adapt to the design and has extensibility in response to changes in specifications.

When inserting and mounting a cassette in the feeding and conveying direction of the sheet material inside the cassette as in the past, the shock of inserting and mounting the cassette may cause the leading end of the stored sheet material to jump out from the leading end of the cassette due to inertia. Or, in the case of a separation claw type cassette, problems such as strong force being applied to the separation claw, causing deformation, or poor movement of the separation claw may occur, If the cassette is inserted and mounted in the opposite direction, the above-mentioned inertial force will be in the opposite direction, and the above-mentioned trouble will not occur.

Note that the sheet material conveying roller 71 on the cassette 50 side can also be a driving roller like the same roller 40 on the feeder 30 side.

[0097]

As described above, in the sheet material feeding device of the present invention, in the feeding state, the intermediate plate is in a vertically oscillating state under the pressure of the first pressure member and the second pressure member. is maintained and is not in the feeding state, the pressure transmission of the first pressure member is released and the second
It receives only the pressing force of the pressing member. However, the second pressure member maintains a balance with its own weight in the up-and-down movement posture with no paper feeding pressure sheet material on the intermediate plate. Therefore, when replenishing sheet material to the sheet material storage section, the middle plate falls freely by the load of the loaded sheet material, and balance is maintained in this state. This can be done easily and quickly without any push-up resistance or interference with the separating member. Furthermore, even if the number of sheets to be loaded increases, the operator can operate without any problem in operability when replenishing recording paper, troubleshooting problems such as paper jams, or changing the size of recording paper.

Furthermore, by displacing the rear end regulating member of the sheet material in the horizontal direction in conjunction with the vertical movement of the intermediate plate, the restraint of the separation member on the sheet material can be kept constant at all times, and the sheet material can be It is possible to eliminate poor separation of materials.

Furthermore, since a plurality of types of sheet material storage sections having different maximum loading capacities can be attached to the feeder section, sheet material can be easily and quickly replenished to the apparatus regardless of the frequency of use. In addition, since unused sheet materials can be stored as they are in the sheet storage section, the sheet materials can be stored in an appropriate environment at any time, eliminating problems such as paper jams.

[0100] Also, frequently used sheet materials can be used in a large capacity sheet material storage section, and less frequently used sheet materials can be stored in a small capacity sheet material storage section. There is also no need to take up as much space as in the past.

[0101] In addition, regardless of the amount of sheet material loaded in the sheet material storage section, it is always possible to
The position and pressing force of the separating member on the sheet material, the position and pressing force of the side regulating member on the sheet material, the sliding force of the sheet material storage section on the sheet material, the position of the rear end regulating member on the sheet material,
Since the sheet material can be fed at the sheet material feeding position (from the sheet material storage section), there is no need to limit the material of the sheet material, the type of sheet material such as thick paper, thin paper, etc., and there are no restrictions on the usage environment of the device. This increases the degree of freedom.

[0102] Furthermore, since the number of parts is small, costs can be reduced and ease of assembly can be improved. Furthermore, it is possible to downsize the apparatus, increasing the degree of freedom in designing the size of the apparatus, such as an image forming apparatus in which the feeding apparatus is assembled.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a facsimile machine to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the facsimile machine.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a sheet material feeder.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the drive portion of the sheet material feeder.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the sheet material feeder.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a sheet material feeder.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the paper feed cassette.

FIG. 8 is a front view of the paper feed cassette.

FIG. 9 is a rear view of the paper feed cassette.

FIG. 10 is a left side view of the paper feed cassette.

FIG. 11 is a longitudinal sectional view of the paper feed cassette.

FIG. 12 is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating the operation inside the paper feed cassette.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a state in which a paper feed cassette is attached to a sheet material feeder.

FIG. 14 is a graph showing the relationship between sheet material loading amount and paper feeding pressure.

FIG. 15 is a graph showing the relationship between sheet material loading amount and paper feeding pressure.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the movement of the rear end regulating plate.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the movement of the rear end regulating plate 56.

FIGS. 18(a) and 18(b) are diagrams showing changes in the tip angle of the middle plate.

FIGS. 19(a) and 19(b) are perspective views of the tip of the middle plate with variable tip angle.

FIG. 20 is a cross-sectional view of the paper feed cassette showing how to attach the side regulation plate.

FIG. 21 is a perspective view of the paper feed cassette showing how to attach the side regulation plate.

FIGS. 22A and 22B are diagrams showing changes in the length of L3 (distance between the separation claw and the rear end of the sheet material).

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating how sheet materials are separated one by one.

FIG. 24 is a perspective explanatory view showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Apparatus main body 2 Original table 3 Optical reading system 5 Recording system 26 Telephone 27 Operation panel 30 Sheet material feeder 37 Sheet material feeding roller 40 Sheet material transport roller 50 Paper feed cassette (sheet material storage section) 51
f Sheet material end abutment front wall 56
Middle plate 57 Rear end regulation plates 59, 60 Pressure lever 61 Pressure shaft 63 First pressure member 65a Second pressure member 66 Separation claw 72 Sheet material side regulation plate P
Sheet material P1 Topmost sheet material

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A sheet material feeder section comprising a sheet material feeding means for feeding a sheet material to an apparatus main body that receives the sheet material and performs image processing on the sheet material, and the sheet material feeder In the sheet material feeding device, the sheet material storage section includes a sheet material storage section that can be loaded into and taken out from the sheet material storage section, and the sheet material storage section has an intermediate plate that can be moved up and down while loading sheet materials, and a sheet material storage section that is configured to move the intermediate plate according to the loaded amount of sheet materials. a first pressure member that transmits a pressure force to raise the intermediate plate via a transmission member; a second pressure member that directly transmits a pressure force to raise the middle plate; and a second pressure member that regulates the rear end of the sheet material. A sheet material feeding device comprising: a trailing end regulating member; the trailing end regulating member is horizontally displaced in conjunction with vertical movement of the intermediate plate. 2. The sheet material feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the rear end regulating member has the same arc shape as the rotation angle of the vertical movement of the middle plate. 3. The sheet material feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the front wall of the sheet material storage section against which the sheet material end abuts has the same shape as the rotation arc of the middle plate.